Why Anthony Stolarz has most to gain from new Flyers regime

PHILADELPHIA — Only a month ago, Anthony Stolarz was essentially in hockey hell.

He was told that he wouldn’t play in the American Hockey League barring injury, that he was the third goalie in a list of three and while it’s great that he’s healthy enough to play after two surgeries to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee last season, he wouldn’t be in there.

Now he’s the Flyers’ starter after Ron Hextall was fired as general manager, Brian Elliott, Michal Neuvirth and Alex Lyon were all hurt and Cal Pickard, who has since been waived by the Flyers and claimed by the Arizona Coyotes, couldn’t cut it.

“If you were to tell me this a year ago, I wouldn’t believe it to be quite honest,” Stolarz said. “Just getting an opportunity this quick. I’m just trying to take it day-by-day and keep learning on the fly and I’m not trying to look too far ahead. I’m just trying to relish every moment being here with the guys and playing at this level again. A year ago I was up in the press box watching games.”

The 2012 second-round pick and only New Jersey-born goalie to play in the NHL got the start for the Flyers again Thursday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Stolarz, a Jackson native, had played in only 10 prior games and despite looking like a cast-off not too long ago, now he might have a future with the Flyers.

He was protected in the expansion draft when the Vegas Golden Knights took Pierre-Edouard Bellemare off the Flyers’ roster and then buried deep in the depth chart. He played only three games with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms this season before being recalled and only one of them was a scheduled start.

“Last week I felt like, when he got in the net the first day, he was excited to be in there. I don’t think he was trying to make too much of it or too little of it,” Flyers coach Dave Hakstol said. “He just was excited to go out there and play and do the best that he could. He’s continued to show us that every day and that’s what he needs to keep doing.”

When players are recalled from the minors they always talk about the difference in speed and skill from the AHL to the NHL. Occasionally a player will say he prefers the NHL not just for the paycheck but because the game comes easier to him.

There is a lot more freelancing in the AHL and therefore uncertainty where plays will develop from. Stolarz has found this to be the case in goal.

“What I’ve noticed is there’s a lot more Grade-A chances in the American League than in the NHL,” he said. “Guys are younger. They’re trying to make plays so there’s a lot more risk taking. Up here it’s a lot more organized. It’s a little more structured. As a goalie you know your job. You see two, three, four of those Grade-A chances where in the American League I feel like I’m facing five, six, seven. And that’s not just me. I’ve talked to goalies all around and it’s all around the league. In the NHL, you make those three or four saves, the rest of the night, as long as you’re feeling it and pucks are sticking to you, it’s relatively…not easy, but you should put a one or two spot up there.”

Last summer the Flyers inked him to a one-year extension that kept him in the organization because Hextall didn’t want to lose an asset for nothing and there wasn’t a market for a goalie coming off consecutive knee surgeries.

If Stolarz continues playing well, maybe he can be even more. Elliott and Neuvirth are both on expiring contracts, leaving Lyon, Carter Hart and for Felix Sandström to begin his entry-level contract.

Like everyone else after a crazy week, Stolarz is playing for his job. And he could be up for a promotion.

“It should be a meritocracy,” new general manager Chuck Fletcher said. “It should be whoever’s playing best should get the net and you have to give Anthony credit. I watched the Ottawa game on TV and I thought he made some real nice saves in that game. There were some crazy bounces, but I thought for the most part that was a pretty good showing and then he played exceptionally well in Pittsburgh. I think there’s a meritocracy and that should apply to everybody that if you can get the job done, you’ll get rewarded and get the opportunity to play. Going forward, you look at our goaltending situation and we don’t have many guys signed for next year. This is more than just a one-week thing. We would like to get stable from a health perspective and find ways to win tomorrow night, but there’s also bigger-term implications here. I think guys are playing to get the net and also playing to show they can be part of the future.”